Reckless story continues

Regular readers will recall that my last column was about Marine Sgt. Reckless.

Reckless was a mostly Mongolian pony purchased by a recoilless rifle platoon in 1952 Korea. And I left the story unfinished.

Reckless had received two battlefield promotions. As the fighting wore down, an article in The Saturday Evening Post on April 17, 1954, resulted in a campaign by American supporters to encourage the Marines to bring Reckless to America.

An executive at Pacific Transport Lines offered to let her ride free on one of his company's ships from Yokohama to San Francisco.

A 1st Marine Aircraft Wing transport plane got her to Yokohama for the sea voyage, but this was after a ceremony (complete with band) that saw her off on rotation.

Unfortunately, a typhoon played havoc with the journey and Reckless got sick during the storm. Her handlers had a clean-up issue.

When she finally arrived in San Francisco she had to deal with the U.S. entry bureaucracy. Customs wasn't an issue. No search required, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture insisted a medical check and lab tests be completed before she set hoof on American soil.

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The delay in the testing would have made her late for a Marine banquet where she was to be the guest of honor (honey mustard dressing on the hay?). Unwilling to accept the delay, the Marines directly contacted Agriculture Department officials in Washington who agreed to let her disembark after the blood was drawn for testing.

If the tests reflected glanders or dourine, Reckless was back to Japan or to a dog food factory.

She had neither but the Marines were offended when they learned that dourine was an equine sexually transmitted disease. They considered the suggestion a smirch on her record.

She was led off the ship by Lt. Pedersen on Nov. 10, 1954 (the birthday of the Marine Corps).

At the Marine Corps Birthday Ball held that day, she ate both cake and flower decorations after riding up an elevator to the event.

Pedersen's family gave her temporary quarters (no per diem) before she found a permanent home with the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.

The Saturday Evening Post published a followup article about her and two books were written of her story. She made several public appearances including "Art Linkletter's House Party."

She was well cared for at Camp Pendelton and produced four foals during her retirement. She was retired from active duty in November 1960 with free board and feed in lieu of retirement pay. She died in 1968 at an estimated age of 19 or 20.

Her decorations included: The National Defense Service Medal, a Korean Service Medal, a Navy Unit Commendation, and the United Nations Korea Medal (all of which she wore on her horse blanket).

Reckless was named one of America's 100 All-Time Heroes by Life magazine.

Sculptor Jocelyn Russell created a statue of Reckless carrying ammunition and other combat equipment which was unveiled in Semper Fidelis Memorial Park at the National Museum of the Marine Corps on July 26, 2013, one day before the 60th anniversary of the Korean War cease-fire agreement signed in Panmunjom.

Sgt. Reckless was one Korean who served the country with distinction.

• There were certainly sections that qualified as a callithump decades ago. A callithump is a noisy boisterous parade or serenade.

• It was well before Jamoca Almond Fudge. At the inaugural festivities in 1812, Dolly Madison served strawberry ice cream.

• "If life gives you lemons ..." The average lemon tree will yield about 1,500 lemons in a year.

Jim Willard, a Loveland resident since 1967, retired from Hewlett-Packard after 33 years to focus on less trivial things. He calls Twoey, his bichon frisé-Maltese dog, vice president of research for his column.

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